State joins school-attendance probe

Columbus schools officials sought state help yesterday in a probe of possible record-tampering, saying the scope of the issue was larger than previously thought.

Jennifer Smith Richards, The Columbus Dispatch

Columbus schools officials sought state help yesterday in a probe of possible record-tampering, saying the scope of the issue was larger than previously thought.

Superintendent Gene Harris asked the state auditor’s office to conduct a special audit of the district’s enrollment data. Also, the Ohio Department of Education said that because of concerns raised yesterday in a story in The Dispatch and after a request for help from the district, it plans to review the accuracy of Columbus’ attendance figures.

Harris wrote in a weekly emailed newsletter to the community and a letter to State Superintendent Stan Heffner that she learned this month that the “issue appears to be of a greater concern and scope than previously thought.”

Since August, the district’s internal auditor has been investigating charges that schools retroactively alter thousands of student-attendance records at the end of each school year.

The district is seeking the state’s help “because of their additional resources and expertise,” district spokesman Jeff Warner said in an email.

“We want to get to the bottom of this quickly and either address any issues that are identified as concerns (by the state auditor) or remove any doubt about the legitimacy of the actions taken to date.”

Changing student-attendance or enrollment records could affect school or district report-card rankings. Student-attendance rates are among the benchmarks used to determine school quality.

Harris has said she doesn’t know whether anything improper has occurred and that there are several legitimate reasons to make changes to student data even after the school year has closed.

She also said she won’t allow anyone to cheat by manipulating school data.

“I take student data and fidelity and accuracy very seriously,” she said, adding that she often uses data in her talks to community members and school employees about whether the district is improving or not.

The Ohio Department of Education has the additional power of withholding state per-pupil money in cases where fraud has occurred and taking over the management of a district’s student-data systems.

Questions about Columbus City Schools’ attendance and enrollment data were raised after some students showed up in court to face truancy charges only to be told they were not truant.

Current and former district employees say it has been common practice for schools to withdraw and then re-enroll students with poor attendance records so their potentially poor test scores won’t count. State report-card rules say schools must count the test scores of students who have been enrolled consecutively for most of the school year. If they have a break in enrollment during that time, however, the scores and attendance rates don’t count against the school.

Harris first asked the state auditor to examine allegations in August, when she said she learned of the potential problem. The auditor’s office opted at the time to let the district continue its internal research.

“They hadn’t gotten very far. There wasn’t a whole lot of information,” said Carrie Bartunek, spokeswoman for Auditor Dave Yost. “They have reached back out to us and have asked us to take another look at it. We’ll meet with them again, and they’ll provide us their information and see if we need to get involved.”

If the state agrees that it should probe the matter, the special audit could take several months to complete.

jsmithrichards@dispatch.com

@jsmithrichards

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